My blog dedicated to the original Captain Marvel - the World's Mightiest Mortal!

Monday, December 21, 2015

Captain Marvel's Character: Humility

One thing that draws me to Captain Marvel is his character. His character comes through in the pages of Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures in unmistakable ways. One aspect of Cap's character that I want to look at briefly is his humility. Captain Marvel is a humble hero. You can define humility in many ways. Here are a few thoughts to consider:

"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less." C. S. Lewis

"Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right." Ezra Taft Benson

In various dictionaries, humility is defined as freedom from pride and arrogance, a modest estimate of one's self.

There are two examples that showcase Captain Marvel's humility from the pages of Captain Marvel Adventures. In Captain Marvel Adventures #41, Cap mistakenly believes he is being nominated to run for President of the United States. Without getting into the entire plot, I want to emphasize Cap's reaction to even being considered for such a high honor.

Captain Marvel is truly humbled at the prospect of being elected to our nation's highest office. He doesn't become conceited or even think he has the right to this office as he is, after all, the world's mightiest mortal! No, Captain Marvel remains true to his character and remains a humble hero.The second example comes from Captain Marvel Adventures #69. In this adventure we have Captain Marvel being given the honor of becoming a Knight of the Golden Stocking from the country of Grafstan. When Cap first hears of this honor, he wants to humbly turn it down! But when he sees that it would be a great affront to the King of Grafston, he humbly accepts the honor.

These are just two examples that showcase Captain Marvel's humble hero character. Though he is the world's mightiest mortal, he never insists on being honored or lifted up. He puts others before him and serves Fawcett City - and the world - with a true servant's heart.Humility, that is just one of Captain Marvel's character traits. It is his humility that draws many fans - regardless of generation - to him as their hero.